1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of generating images or documents from digital data. More specifically, the present invention relates generally to printers and projectors. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a device capable of accepting a document or image data in multiple formats and outputting the document in multiple formats.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data projectors for use with portable computers are well known and have become commonplace in the home and business environments. A conventional projector 102 is shown in FIG. 1 and includes a memory 104, an image processing unit 106, a display controller 108, a system controller 110, a video decoder 114 and optics 116. The system controller 110 of the projector 102 receives raw video data 112 (like RGB data) and stores the data in the memory buffer 104. The memory buffer 104 is used to store the data in various formats before use by the video decoder 114, the image processing unit 106 and the display controller 108. Once stored in the memory buffer 104, the video decoder 114 converts the raw video data into a format that is understandable to the image processing unit 106. After conversion by the decoder 114, the video data is converted to pixel and color data by the image processing unit 106. Finally, the display controller 108 and optics 116 use the pixel and color data to generate an image in light output by the projector 102 and displayed on the screen 118.
However, there are shortcomings with such prior art projectors. One problem is that they are only able to receive data in limited number of formats. Another problem is that the computer, such as a laptop, must by physically coupled to the projector for use, and display only what is shown on the computer's display. Also, they generally do not have any ability to store multiple presentations and display them at user request and under user control. Finally, projectors are often limited to the display resolution of the computer providing the image for display even if the projector is capable of displaying the image at a higher resolution than can be output by the computer.
Like data projectors, printers are well known and have become ubiquitous. A conventional printer 202 is shown in FIG. 2 and includes an Input/Output (I/O) controller 204, a print engine 206, an image processing module 208, a system controller 210, a memory buffer 212 and a print encoder/decoder (Codec) 214. The I/O controller 204 receives and directs incoming raw print data 225 (i.e., a description of a document in a language understood by the printer such as PCL or PDL) to the system controller 210 for distribution and storage in the printer 202. The raw print data 225 is converted by the print codec 214 into print data and control signals that can be sent to and understood by the image processing module 208. The image processing module 208 renders the image as print data at a print element level to the print engine 206, which in turn generates the image on paper. The memory buffer 212 is available to store instructions, data and documents for use by the image processing module 208, the system controller 210, or the print Codec 214. For example, the memory buffer 212 allows the printer 202 to receive data faster than it can be printed such that documents can be queued on the printer for printing in first-in first-out (FIFO) order.
However, there are a number of problems with conventional printers. First, they like projectors must receive the information in one of a limited number of print languages. Second, they have not been combined with projectors for a multifunction output device, and finally cannot generate a printed document based on input in projector format.
Therefore, what is needed is a device capable of accepting a document or image data in multiple formats and outputting the document in multiple formats. Moreover, there is a need for such a system that overcomes the other problems noted above with both projectors and printers of the prior art.